Infopeople - Advocacyhttps://infopeople.org/blog-categories/advocacy
enPrepare to document your library's valuehttps://infopeople.org/blogs/francisca-goldsmith/prepare-document-your-librarys-value
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The initial health insurance open enrollment period, a key component of the Affordable Care Act, provides an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the meaningful role public libraries serve in their communities. By documenting the work your public library undertakes on behalf of assisting its community in connecting to the information and access points they need related to the Affordable Care Act, you can build the profile of public libraries in general as well as become more visible as a local community resource.</p>
<p>To collect quantitative data that displays this value, your library should take some steps before the enrollment period begins on October 1:</p>
<ul><li>During the week before enrollment opens, document the number of uses made of public access computers; you can use this figure later to contrast with use during the weeks of the enrollment period, through March 31.</li>
<li>If you have a public computer lab or classroom, be sure to reserve it for about two-hour periods of time for weekly online enrollment opportunities; these hours are also quantitative and you can record the numbers of community members who visit the lab or classroom to enroll on a weekly basis.</li>
<li>If your library has a publicly accessible TTY connection, be sure staff understand its use and communicate the parameters under which your library will make it available to community members who need its support to reach telephone assistance from Covered California. The numbers who do can also be documented.</li>
<li>If your library itself doesn't subscribe to Language Line, the professional service through which community members who need interpretive assistance in order to enroll in the insurance marketplace, find out which city or county office does. Be sure to communicate with that agency about the library's likely need to understand its use during the enrollment period and be sure that appropriate library staff receive the little training its use requires. Such occasions become yet another quantitative detail to track during the enrollment period.</li>
</ul><p>Making these counts and arrangements now will put you in a good position to show the amount of assistance (value) you deliver during the initial open enrollment period. Like almost every challenge, this period of open enrollment provides a great opportunity--in this case, to collect hard data to use in future advocacy.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-blog-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Blog Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog-tags/affordable-care-act" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">affordable care act</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/blog-tags/best-practices" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">best practices</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog-tags/strategic-thinking" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">strategic thinking</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-blog-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Blog Categories:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog-categories/affordable-care-act" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Affordable Care Act</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/blog-categories/advocacy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Advocacy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog-categories/keeping" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Keeping Up</a></div></div></div>Tue, 17 Sep 2013 19:00:00 +0000Francisca Goldsmith3399 at https://infopeople.orghttps://infopeople.org/blogs/francisca-goldsmith/prepare-document-your-librarys-value#commentsThe one best thinghttps://infopeople.org/blogs/laurieputnam/one-best-thing
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Author Maureen Johnson is a big fan of libraries. Recently she posted this tweet:</p>
<p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/sites/default/files/SafariScreenSnapz008.png" alt="twitter screenshot" width="503" height="222" />Librarians quickly hit the keyboards in response. The winning suggestions: <em>Use the library</em>. Check out books. Participate in programs. Tell your local politicians how important the library is. Use the library some more.</p>
<p>Now I'm wondering: What if we turned Maureen's question back on ourselves? What's the best thing—the one best thing—that library staff can do to support the library (other than going to work every day)?</p>
<p>﻿ What would you say?</p>
<p>﻿ Here's what I'd say: Talk to people about the library. Not your co-workers, not your board members, not the people visiting your library, but everyone else—Maureen Johnson's "average person." This could be your next-door neighbor or your mother-in-law. The other parents at the PTA meeting or the people sitting next to you at the <a href="https://infoblog.infopeople.org/2013/03/18/embed-em-where-the-action-is-watering-holes/" target="_blank">coffee shop</a>.</p>
<p>﻿ In our everyday lives, there will be moments when we can slip in stories about the cool place where we work and the amazing things going on there. Tell about the kid who didn't flunk after all because you helped with his research paper, or the senior who was so grateful for your outreach service that she baked you cookies, or the guy who was finally able to apply for a job online after he took your computer class. Mention your latest art exhibit or the Wikipedia editing party you're having next week. Tell people. They'll tell other people.</p>
<p>﻿ In every community, there are plenty of people who haven't been inside a library since card catalogs, and there are lots of others who just haven't been exposed to libraries, for whatever reason. We can't expect them to support us if they aren't aware of what libraries do. Let's start the conversation.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-blog-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Blog Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog-tags/leadership" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">leadership</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/blog-tags/advocacy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">advocacy</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-blog-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Blog Categories:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog-categories/advocacy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Advocacy</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/blog-categories/leadership" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Leadership</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog-categories/library-culture" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Library Culture</a></div></div></div>Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:57:00 +0000laurie.putnam3020 at https://infopeople.orghttps://infopeople.org/blogs/laurieputnam/one-best-thing#comments